A bundle of mini games and a Wii Remote Plus controller. Can’t be bad!

If you’re in the mood for a selection of party mini games on the Nintendo Wii, then Wii Play: Motion offers a great selection to choose from. As before with it’s predecessor Wii Play, Wii Play: Motion uses the Nintendo Miis as the playable characters within the mini games and requires the use of a Wii Remote Plus controller. Fortunately, the game comes packaged with a bright red Remote Plus.

There are twelve engaging mini games to play in a variety of modes, either alone or multiplayer. Once you’ve chosen your Mii character, a brief tutorial shows you how to play each game and a practice mode is available for you to try the game out first. All of the games make use of the extra sensitivity and functions of the Remote Plus. There’s quite a variety of games available, from balancing ice-cream cones to searching for spooky ghosts. Nintendo has certainly thought out this collection and it provides a good solid range of games that will tick all the right boxes for the casual gamer. From the variety of games available, it’s hard to pin point what game stood out the most, so I will run through a few of the games that I found most enjoyable.

Imagine being a ghostbuster for one moment and going for your own ghoulish hunt. This is one of the funniest games I’ve ever had the chance to play on the Nintendo Wii. Players have to literally search for ghosts within the room that they are playing in. The ghosts disappear off the screen and this is where you have to move around the room, searching and swaying your wii remote whilst listening for noises from the controllers speaker that indicate you are getting close. Once you have managed to pinpoint their location, and be warned that they move, you have to press a button to reel them in. This is almost as entertaining for spectators as for the actual player, as all they get to see is someone spinning around on the spot trying to catch these invisible ghosts. Playing with more than one person will see both players trying frantically to find a ghost and looking quite daft in the process. Some of the ghosts can be a bit tricky to capture and will put up quite a fight when it comes to sending them home, but at this point players can join forces and work together to capture the annoying spectres. Just don’t cross the streams!

Trigger Twist is basically a shooter in which you have to aim your wii remote at the screen and blast enemies away. This involved shooting at a selection of UFO’S in the first level and trying to accumulate as many points as possible. Played with more than one player, things get quite competitive as they move their cross-hairs across the screen and try to out-shoot each other. Occasionally through the game, you would have to avoid shooting certain characters or risk losing hearts.

Pose Mii Plus is a Wii version of the Hole in the Wall television show. With your wii remote you would have to carefully twist and turn your mii through a series of walls while performing the required pose. Playing much like a shape matching game, the Mii would strike a pose and the player would only have a few seconds to work out which way to twist the Wiimote in order to match the silhouette on a rapidly moving wall. Some of the silhouettes can be particularly difficult to match and a number of times I found myself catching a foot or whatever and losing a life.

Offering another completely different style of gameplay was Wind Runner which is a type of racing game. The Mii is kitted out with skates and an umbrella, with the object being to harness the power of the wind and be propelled around the various tracks whilst collecting gems and, in multiplayer, getting to the finish line first. Catching the different gusts of wind with the right angle will help you to rapidly pick up speed, while flicking the Wiimote up will allow the player to jump and try to catch some air whilst avoiding holes in the track, puddles of an unidentified goo and grabbing floating gems.

Ice-cream ‘Cone Zone’ oozed a delicious variety of scoops of ice-cream carefully balanced on top of a wafer cone. Different flavors are added to each cone and eventually your cone is towering up high with a selection of ice cream. This requires the player to try and balance the Wiimote, and thus the cone, carefully; otherwise you end up with ice-cream falling to a mess on the floor. Another mode that is available in this mini game will see players treated to a constant swirl of soft whip ice-cream and players will have to twist their cone slowly and carefull, so as not to drop any of the frozen goodness and create the perfect Mister Whippy.

Casual mini game fans out there will find Wii Play: Motion to be a satisfying experience. There is a wide variety of different games available and every player is sure to find at least one game that they enjoy. However, although players can be rewarded with bronze, silver, gold or platinum medals, there is no real objective linking the games together, which may leave players wondering what the point is. Given the fact that Wii Play: Motion can be picked up in most places for around £34.99 and a standard Wii Remote Plus will set you back £29.99, Wii owners that are in the market for a new controller would do well to consider paying what is only an extra £5 for a collection of 12 mini games that show off the capabilities of the new controller. Although there may be nothing linking all of the games together, the game still proves to be competitive and entertaining in a party environment, demonstrating that the game is at it’s best when played with friends.

Effectively costing only five UK pounds, Wii Play: Motion is worth picking up. Providing entertainment for groups of kids or adults, it is the type of collection that will be brought out whenever people gather together. Certainly worth having in your library.